Do You Need Nitrates in Bacon?

I've tried this method several times and it's great but I was wondering if less salt or time still works if I want it less salty?

Great video! Straight to the point with clear instructions and explanations. I appreciate no ridiculous intro, music, etc. Thank you!

Nice video until the end. Disapointed you didn't show frying and tasting, it's like stopping a movie five minutes before the end.

Thank you for the side-by-side comparison. And for not making an over-produced and overly lengthy video.

I fry Bacon for my family every morning, Monday through Friday, and I have cooked every kind of Bacon there is. First off, all of it tastes great but the Bacon with nitrates are overall a little better tasting and that's a fact. Also, I keep the Bacon grease with nitrates and without in separate jars. Why ? Because the Bacon grease with nitrates is saltier to the taste buds and I use it for certain things and the other Bacon grease for others. Just some info and thoughts from a long time home cook is all, no harsh comments, please.

I don't think the time in the refrigerator is the biggest concern for botulism, it is smoking meat at low temperatures afterwards. If you cold smoke meat, you are putting it in a low oxygen environment and holding it at temps that might allow it to produce toxin. Of course if you only do it for a few hours the risk is still small. However I think the risk of harm from nitrates is misunderstood. As long as you give the cure time to process before consuming it, you should have no risk at all. The danger is only when you consume the meat too quickly after adding the curing salt, and it has not had time to break down. If sodium nitrite was really a concern, health officials would have some very strange advice for people since nearly 93 percent of sodium nitrite intake comes from leafy vegetables, tubers and is produced in our own saliva.

We made this and it was just heavenly! I could not nelieve how delicious it was. And not difficult at all. To soak them for 30 minutes after rinsing off the salt really helps. You are so right that you don't need all that salt! Thanks for sharing.

The benefit of the Pink salt is simply to prevent botulism from growing at lower temps. If you are planning on cold smoking (below 100F) then pink salt is a requirement. since in this video you are hot smoking, it's not needed. . Since I only like to cook my bacon once I prefer to cold smoke it.

Nitrates do add a different flavor to meats. Solid pork bellies for bacon and most whole muscle meats do not have anoxic pockets internally, therefore botulism shouldn’t be an issue. Most commercial producers add nitrates for flavor, color and reduction of possible pathogens.

great info. it helped me understand the difference. thank you

Great video mate!! I like the safety net of the pink salt and the color but that's me either way I'll be trying this soon.

Wow, this is an awesome video. This is far beyond what I’d ever do but still awesome stuff.

Great job!!

Great camparison👍🏻

If by mistake I put twice more pink salt, what can be done to safety product and health as result?

I buy cheap bacon scraps at Lidl and boil and rinse them to remove nitrates. I wonder, if I buy a greener (greyer) pack, does it mean it has got less nitrates in curing process? Or does it just have more salmonella?

I heard botulism needs a no air environment and temperatures above 50?and it’s mostly in pork. I use curing salt just in case for dry aging my meat

Maybe you can answer a question for me. I did bacon for my first time, I did a dry curs with salt only from another video. I salted till all the moisture was gone, took about 6 days. I then soaked in water for about 9hrs to get a lot of the salt out while I was at work. I then came home took them out of the water and smoked them for about 3 hrs until done. When I sliced them and they sat in the fridge for longer then 3/4 days they started turn a greenish tint tears the bottom. So I through them away. Thankyou great video

Love that you kept it simple. How much curing salt did you add?

Was the bacon taste test to different between pink salt and the natural salt? I have not used Prague powder and I have the same thing it slightly greyed on the ends